


The Grey Skies of G'nash G'nir

by Basingstoke



Category: Star Wars, due South
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2001-11-11
Updated: 2001-11-13
Packaged: 2017-10-02 17:45:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Basingstoke/pseuds/Basingstoke
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A serial</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Ben strolled along the long walkway of the dock, nodding to old acquaintances. "Good evening, Master Harrrg! And how are the routes today?"

Harrrg flung her arms in the air and growled an old Wookiee expression that meant, roughly, "I have eaten my braces and all that's left is my fur."

"Oh dear," Ben replied. "Well, better luck next time." Harrrg beat the side of the ship with a wrench and snarled at her co-pilot. Ben walked on.

The dock was excessively busy on this day. Dozens of sculls brought goods down from the massive transport ships in orbit, too large to broach the atmosphere. From here, items would be carried primarily to the many cities of G'nash G'nir. Some goods were needed on the mining camps of the asteroids and inner rocky planets that provided G'nash G'nir with its income, and the metals and minerals mined there had to be shipped out. Those shipments were the purview of the pilots such as Master Harrrg whose ground-to-space ships could more easily navigate the asteroid field.

"Jedi!" Ben turned at the familiar Rodian voice. Garbo ran to catch up, his antennae quivering with excitement. "You've returned, Jedi!"

His heart ached for a longer stay. The snows on Mount Rise had just reached the bottom slope when he left--but duty called. "I have indeed. I did tell you when I would be back, did I not?"

"Yes." Garbo's antennae slumped. "But these are uncertain times."

Ben clapped him on the shoulder. "Not that uncertain, my good man, not as long as the Jedi are here to watch over you. Now, have you seen my good friend Bail VKh?"

"Er.... Yes. Yes. Berth 14." Garbo's antennae quivered. "But, er."

"Yes?"

His antennae bent back. "Nothing. Just that we live in uncertain times."

Ben patted his shoulder comfortingly. "Thank you, friend Garbo." He turned away and resumed walking down the dock as Garbo wandered away, muttering "uncertain times, uncertain times."

Berth 14 was Bail's usual spot. He generally carried small, valuable cargo and the occasional passenger. For the past two years, Bail had carried Ben back and forth between the harbor and the mines, where the Nir government had invited the Jedi to arbitrate conflicts and keep the peace. The miners had very little respect for traditional law enforcement but a great deal of respect for a human who could stop a mining axe in mid-air with his mind.

"Hello, Veen... Quo Vaden, you're looking well..." Ben soon saw the distinctive curve of Bail's ship. Clinks and muffled cursing suggested that he was performing some of the endless maintenance required in this harsh sector.

"Bail?" Ben walked around the large ship looking for the source of the sounds. "Bail, is that you?"

"Uh, hey!" an unfamiliar voice responded. "Just a sec." Ben heard some louder clangs and a thud before a blond human dropped out of the undercarriage of the ship. He was dressed in a basic pilot's jumpsuit and chewing a senna seed, and he was quite unknown to Ben.

Ben smiled. "Good evening! I'm looking for Bail VKh. Is he around?"

The human laughed and wiped his hands on his jumpsuit. "Hey, Ben, I know I changed my hair a little but it's still _me_." He threw his arms around Ben.

Ben stood stiffly in the embrace. He knew Bail VKh's touch. This was not Bail VKh. Ben stared at the human as he withdrew. "I'm looking for Bail _VKh_, the human who owns this ship."

The human gave him a strange look. "Yeah. That's me. I own this ship."

"But you're not Bail VKh." He bore no resemblance; nothing about him was familiar.

"Am too." The human reached into a deep thigh pocket and began rummaging through it.

Ben did not let himself anger. "Perhaps you misunderstand me. Let me introduce myself. I am Ben-An Ferr, Jedi Knight. I first came to this sector in search of the killers of my master, and for reasons that don't bear exploring at this juncture, I have remained as general arbiter and peacekeeper in this system. I have recently returned from a short absence and am looking for my longtime friend and partner, Bail VKh."

The human came up with an ID card. "Bail VKh, at your service. Maybe you ought to look into those memory problems, Ben." He shoved the ID at Ben and climbed back up the ladder into the ship.

It was an Alderaanian identity card. It did, indeed, say "Bail," and beside it the letters "ver" and "khe" stacked in the Alderaanian fashion. The picture was of the yellow-haired man before him and the vital statistics appeared to conform. It wasn't his Bail, and yet it was legitimately Bail VKh.

Ben rubbed his forehead, wondering what ripples wended their way through the Force that they should clash so violently here. He turned the card about in his hand, searching the slight information for some clue.

Wait. Some time ago Bail had shown him his card and told him of the hidden information there. "Pilots don't use the full surname," he'd said, "just the use-name. Tradition. But if you look in the code, the surname is there. See? Vekhillus." And Bail had taught him the droid-language of the code.

This card secretly bore the name Kovalkh. And Bail was an exceedingly common name on Alderaan.

Ben stormed up the ladder. Bail--this imposter Bail--was bent over the manifests. He stood up as Ben approached. "You are not Bail Vekhillus!" Ben shouted.

"Shut up!" Bail shoved him up against the bulkheads, his fists clenched in Ben's tunic and his spicy breath brushing Ben's chin. "No! I am not Bail Vekhillus! But I _am_ Bail VKh, and if you'd give a quark's liver for Bail Vekhillus then you'll shut the hell up!"

Ben gathered the Force around him and pushed Bail into the other side of the passageway. "You're a fool if you think you can get away with this charade. I am a Jedi, sworn to uphold the laws of the Republic."

"We're not _in_ the Republic." Bail shoved the seed from one cheek to the other. His fingers flexed against the bulkhead as he tested the strength of Ben's will. "We're not breaking any laws. Vekhillus had to take off. He sold me his ship. It's all legit. You wanna see the receipt?"

He was lying. Ben could feel the lie inside his mind. He only wished he could see the true shape of it. "Then why are you so insistent upon this confusion?"

"Because of the people who _aren't_ legit. You wanna let me go?" Bail shifted a little and Ben released him. "Look, I can be your partner, everything the same. I mean, to the Nir, all humans look the same anyway. No big deal."

"It is a big deal, and everything will _not_ be the same." Ben rubbed his eyebrow, thinking over his options and finding few. If what this new Bail said was true, than his Bail required his silence. He would have to play along until he uncovered the underlying story. "However, if you are willing to take up Bail's duties, I am willing to accept you as my partner."

"Sure. Sure thing. Deal." Bail held out his hand to shake. Ben reluctantly took it.

"I already have an errand, if you have the time," Ben said.

"Sure. Name it." Bail grinned and spit out the seed.

* * *

"I don't get this. I thought Jedi weren't supposed to have luggage." Bail drummed his fingers on the instrument panel of the ship's runabout. They were waiting in line at the passenger's berth, across the harbor from the merchandise berths where Bail's ship was docked.

"We don't. We carry only the bare minimum to survive. I deposited my bag at Astarte's Hotel already." Ben sat upright, observing the other runabouts and their occupants. "My goodness! A Nauru. I wonder what she's doing in this sector?"

Bail's fingers abruptly stopped drumming. "Astarte's...wait, you mean the coffin hotel? You're staying at the coffin hotel!?"

"The rooms are considerably larger than coffins."

"Yeah, but not so big you can sit up! It's just a bed in a hole!" Bail shivered. "Man, it makes me nervous just thinking about it. How can you stand that?"

"Jedi are trained not to put stock in things of the flesh." Only the Force and things of the Force--love, honor, friendship. Ben looked away.

"Yeah, but--ah, never mind, we're up." Bail pulled in to the luggage bay. Ben gave his transport code to the droid and received the cage containing D'if in return.

Bail watched the cage as it was lowered into the runabout. "Ben. What is that?"

"My companion, D'if."

"It's a lizard."

"Why, yes. A Dvorak cave lizard. Although, you know, they're not properly lizards, as they're warm-blooded. They have to be to survive on Dvorak." Ben settled the cage in the cargo area and typed in the unlocking code.

Bail turned around in his seat. "Don't do that! What are you doing?"

"Letting him out, of course!" Ben flung open the cage. D'if licked his wrist in thanks and then bounded over to investigate Bail.

Bail cringed. "Aa. Aaah! What's he doing to my EARS! He's doing disgusting things to my ears!" D'if was flickering his tongue about Bail's neck and ears, tasting his sweat.

"He's tasting your pheromones, Bail." Ben leaned over and pressed the button advancing them in line, leaving it to Bail to steer.

"Stop that! Why's he doing that?" Bail flailed around the cockpit trying to avoid D'if's tongue, barely managing to hit the auto-return button that would take them back to the ship.

Ben glanced at D'if ear holes to check the color. "Given that his ears are red, he's likely wondering if it's mating season for you as well."

"GET HIM OFF ME!"

Ben rapped D'if on the head to get his attention. "D'if! To me." D'if lolled his tongue and climbed into Ben's lap to look out the window.

Bail settled into his seat, casting the occasional wary glance at D'if. "I didn't know Jedi had pets."

"It's very common, actually. Especially in long-term postings." Ben stroked D'if's scales, looking for travel damage. "As you would know, if you were Bail VKh."

"I am Bail VKh."

"The other Bail VKh." Ben looked out the window at the activity of the dock.

Bail prodded his shoulder. "Work with me here."

"I am." Ben sat up, spotting illicit activity. Two humans running in opposite directions, one with a jewel pouch clutched in his hand. "Thief!"

"What? Where?"

"There! A human stole the pouch of a D'reg!" Ben shoved D'if out of his lap and scrambled back to the open-topped cargo section. He leaned over the side of the runabout, calculating distance and height.

"I can't land until we reach the ship! It's illegal," Bail said, craning his neck around.

"No need!" Ben jumped over the side of the runabout.

It wasn't far to the ground, perhaps four times his height; a slight application of the Force to gentle his fall was all he needed to land with a tidy somersault. He sprang to his feet, nodding to the surprised travelers around him, and spotted the thief. "Stop!" he shouted.

The thief looked at him and began to run. Ben threw out one arm and pushed the air sharply with the Force, sending a concussive bolt through the atmosphere between them that knocked the thief off his feet. The jewel-pouch flew from his hand.

Ben walked over to the stunned thief, picked up the pouch and patted the thief's shoulder as the harbor security guards closed in. "As my master always said, 'He who disturbs the Force will have the Force disturb him in return.'"

The thief groaned.

"Let that be a lesson to you." Ben stood, looking around for the D'reg family. He ran a hand over his tied-back hair. Ah, there they were.

The D'reg family gargled their thanks. The youngest one tugged on his tunic. "I wanna see your laser sword!" it said.

"Oh, er..." Ben touched his lightsaber protectively.

"Hey!" Ben looked up to see Bail clasping the arm of the second running human, the one who did not have the pouch and who Ben had dismissed as less important. "Ben, look at this."

Bail glared at his captive as Ben and one of the security guards closed in. He opened his hand, showing off a small tube. "This bottom-feeder was carrying _this_."

Ben peered at it. "What is it?"

"It's a conversion tube," the guard said. "It means one of the D'regs has the yeuk and can't eat caromid-based food without it. Can't eat here without it, right? They're expensive without state support--they go for I don't know how much on the black market."

"25,000 credits." Bail shook his captive's arm roughly. "Hey, am I allowed to punch him in the head?"

"Not without a permit. Come on," the guard replied, and took the man and the conversion tube into custody.

Ben raised an eyebrow at Bail. Bail thrust his hands into his coverall pockets. "Some things it's okay to smuggle. Some things it ain't okay to smuggle," Bail said, and shrugged. "Is your lizard ship-trained?"

"Yes, but he'll eat the seat coverings if he's not fed soon."

"Ah, hell." Bail turned on his heel and ran back toward his side of the docks. Ben followed more sedately.

* * *

Ben chucked D'if under the chin. He had not, in fact, eaten any of the seat coverings, although Bail was still crawling around checking the undersides.

"He's not a bad man," Ben's master said in his ear. Ben startled back against the bulkhead.

Ben's master R'ban ir-F'res--or rather, his spirit--floated cross-legged in the air of the ship's corridor. His spirit glowed blue with the Force. "You can't see into his heart, Padawan, but I can."

"Not now, Master," Ben muttered.

"Every time is the right time in the Force," his master said, smiling. D'if flicked his tongue into the air at R'ban's feet.

"Master! Later!"

Bail poked his head up. "Huh?" He didn't appear to see R'ban's spirit.

"Nothing," Ben told Bail.

"Oh. Hey, you want something to eat? We gotta feed the lizard so he doesn't wreck my ship." Bail stood up and stretched, bracing his hands against the low ceiling. Bail--the first Bail--had done the same thing. It gave Ben an unexpected pang in his chest.

"He's a good man, Padawan. You'll see soon enough." R'ban faded away, still smiling.

Ben let out his breath. "Yes. Yes, all right."

"Great. Let me change out of these rags." Bail started past him, then paused. "Hey, do you know Knight Fell?"

Ben blinked.

"Or maybe it was Knight Fellen..." Bail snapped his fingers as if trying to remember something.

"No, I know Knight Fell quite well," Ben said slowly. "And his Padawan, Paxe."

"Yeah, that's right." Bail paused, rocking back and forward on his heels. A slight, closed-mouth smile played about his lips. "I'll get changed," he said finally, heading for his cabin.

Ben rubbed D'if's head absently.

Knight Fell and his Padawan Paxe. Code words.

Bail was also in the Corto Rebel Group.

the end--for now....


	2. Chapter 2

Ben woke up to the insistent whimper of D'if as he lay across Ben's shins, dripping hungry saliva onto Ben's bare knee.

"Good morning, D'if." Ben sat up halfway. D'if's tongue flickered.

Ben whispered the morning awakening ritual under his breath as he pulled on his white undershirt and tan stockings, and then pushed the button in the ceiling of the cubicle that opened the door at his feet. D'if sprang out before him.

Ben sat in the doorway and put on his boots; stood up and donned his undertunic, overtunic, and belt; and finally closed the door and tied his hair back in a knight's tail using the reflection of the shiny metal.

One of his neighbors peeked out her door.

"Good morning, Mistress Krezjapolo!"

She slammed the door and bolted it behind her. Ben whistled to D'if and went to breakfast.

"Good morning, Padawan." Ben's master floated before him, glowing a soft blue.

"Good morning, Master."

"I told you about that pilot lad." A passer-by shivered as R'ban floated through him. Ben had long ago discovered that nobody else could see the ghost of his master, no matter how unignorable he was to Ben himself.

"So you did, Master." Bail. This new Bail was a mystery indeed. A Rebel against the corrupt and entrenched Palpatine government, like Ben and like R'ban before his death. And yet apparently also a smuggler; smugglers loved the corrupted clerks and torturous bureaucracy, for both made smuggling easier. "What do you suppose his angle is?"

Veen turned violet as Ben approached. "Jedi? Howcome you're talking to yourself?"

R'ban was quite open-mouthed with shock. "Padawan! Don't you let him talk like that to me!"

Ben ignored his master's ghost. "I was communing with the Force, Veen."

"...Oh. Can you do it a little quieter? You're making my customers nervous." Veen gestured to the only other diner, a Triton who was in fact quite deaf.

"Padawan! Really!" R'ban was vibrating with indignation.

"...I suppose so, yes," Ben said. "My usual, please."

Veen's color faded to red when he saw Ben's money. "Why sure, sure."

"Humph," R'ban said, and dissolved into thin air.

*

"You eat that?"

Bail sounded skeptical. Ben looked up to find the human standing over his table with a look of alarm and disgust on his face. His hands were shoved deep in the pockets of his trousers.

"Certainly. Nauga has excellent nutritional value. I wouldn't feed it to D'if if I weren't entirely sure." Ben indicated D'if, who was lying at his feet with his own bowl. "And it's inexpensive, as they're primarily raised for their hides."

Bail cocked his head. "But it tastes like poodoo."

"Maybe to a *human.*" Ben sliced another bite.

"So what are you?"

"I'm from Dvorak, just like D'if." Human settlers on Dvorak had long ago altered their physiology to better suit the cold climate. The differences were slight but real, and the ability to eat and enjoy the same kinds of food as the native creatures was one.

"Oh. Okay." Bail stood bouncing on his toes as Ben finished his meal. "So what do you need for the trip?"

"Very little," Ben said. He picked up his plate and returned them to Veen, who grunted his thanks. "Just my pack."

Bail was quiet as they walked back to the hotel. This was to be the first time he took Ben out on his rounds. "I'll just stay here," he said, going slightly pale at the sight of the commuter hotel.

Ben did wonder why Bail was so unnerved by the hotel--it was efficient, economical and environmentally sound, and it wasn't that much worse than the cabins on Bail's ship--but he let it rest for the time being. He slung his pack over his shoulder and returned the key to the proprietor, Kovra Waggon.

"Got food, got fuel," Bail was muttering as they made their way to the ship. "Got water..." This early in the day, there were not many travelers, but the small pilots like Bail were all making last-minute preparations for the day's flights.

"Stovall!" Bail exclaimed when they reached the ship. "Don't let me forget stovall."

"Of course not. Which cabin is yours?"

"The big one." Necessarily, as Bail lived on his ship full-time. There was only one other passenger cabin, and part of the space allotted for it was given over to the airlock. The bulk of the ship was storage for water, fuel, and cargo. Apart from the cabins and cockpit, there were only two smallish rooms fore and aft for the human crew to live in.

Bail locked down the ship behind them and took a seat in the aft. "So. You're part of Corto. Have you heard the news?"

Ben sat across from him. "I've been away. Is it quite safe in here?"

"Yeah. Got a blocker with a benign-noisemaker." That would mask their conversation with normal sounds of walking and repairing. Ben was impressed; Bail was admirably prepared. "Takra is talking with Mon Mothma and Laban SP about forming an alliance."

"A rebel alliance...that would boost our capabilities, but also our visibility," Ben said.

"Yeah. But. I think we have to be more visible. I think we have to be louder. Palpatine--I mean, just look at him! Look what he did to Alderaan!" Bail leaned forward, his face fierce.

"Bail told me. His homeland escaped--"

"Mine didn't," Bail said. "Polska Province. Underwater. All of it."

"I am sorry," Ben said quietly. He could feel the pain and the anger crackling around Bail. "Did you--?"

"I lost my brother in the flood." Bail looked down. "My parents are in a refugee camp. But look, I wanted to tell you something about Bail VKh, you know, the other one."

Ben's heart beat a little faster. "Yes?"

"He was spotted on a Rebel mission," Bail said, raising his head. "They know his face. That's why he had to disappear. I'm here to confuse things and muddy it up. Same name, same ship, same buddy, different face, right? So maybe they won't know who they saw."

"Oh, I see."

"Nir don't know one human from another. You just keep calling me your old buddy Bail, and Palpatine won't know the fish is off the hook." Bail grinned. "Now I gotta buy stovall. Back in a bit."

Ben nodded, lost in thought, wondering where *his* Bail was now.

*

"The route should be preprogrammed. Two days out and two days back, barring any lengthy stops."

Bail batted Ben's hand aside. "I know! I know where the things are in my own ship."

"All right, then." Ben folded his arms and sat back.

Bail typed in the course and sent it to the harbormaster. After a moment, the harbormaster sent back acknowledgement and permission, and Bail fired up the engines. "Don't get pouty," he said to Ben. "This trip is going to suck if you get all moody right at the start."

"I am *not* moody. Jedi do not indulge in that sort of behavior."

"Whatever you say." Bail grinned and lifted off. Ben watched as the dock seemed to shrink beneath them; then the ship's nose tilted upwards and he could only see stars. Beneath them, he knew, G'nash G'nir was a serene, cloudy purple and grey, dotted with the dark smudges of cities. When Bail cleared the orbital height, he would straighten out the ship and they would be able to see all the planets of the system as they soared over the asteroid field.

At least--that's what *his* Bail would have done. This Bail merged into orbit. "What are you doing?" Ben asked. "This isn't the way."

"This is a better way," Bail said. He pulled a packet of senna seeds out of his breast pocket and popped one into his mouth. "Saves fuel. We gain speed in orbit and then we can just coast out to the mine."

He bit into the seed with a sharp crack and Ben could immediately smell the spice. "I see," Ben said.

"It's more efficient. I thought you guys were all into being efficient and not filling the commercial paths up with empty fuel cells and stuff." Bail shot a look at Ben.

"Oh, we are. Excuse me. I think it's time for my daily meditation." Ben unhooked his harness and retreated to his cabin.

*

Ben was standing on his head, feeling nearly at peace, when the in-ship communicator crackled on. "Ben. Getcher butt into the cockpit. We have problems."

Ben sighed and rolled upright. He straightened his hair and clothes as he left his cabin.

"Someone's chasing us," Bail said. "Buckle up. Fast."

D'if was already hooked into protective webbing, looking irritated. Ben slipped into the co-pilot's chair and fastened the harness. Bail glanced over at him, nodded and drew back on the steerstick, sending them diving into the asteroids.

Ben braced himself, suppressing the sick feeling in his stomach. D'if whimpered and thrashed his tail. "Behind us," Bail said through gritted teeth. "I don't--uff!--recognize them. They didn't answer calls."

Ben slid his chair along the tracks in the floor to the periscope and took a good look. "Pirates," he said. "They fly a--Force, Bail, *look out!*"

Bail braced his foot on the control panel, his arms straining at the steerstick as he brought the ship within a hair's breadth of an asteroid. "I ain't blind!" he shouted. "I see all the big damn rocks!"

"Perhaps some remedial flying lessons, then?" Ben inquired. "Your stability is appalling!"

Bail glanced at Ben, his face taut with concentration. "I can fix it, but you won't like it." The ship following them fired, pulverizing a number of small stones to their aft, and Bail dove under another asteroid. His path was far too unbalanced for Ben's comfort; they bobbled like a fishing boat in a flood.

"I don't like *this.*" Ben clutched the arms of his chair and D'if whimpered as his body bumped against the bulkhead.

Bail glanced at the panel above his head, then back at the field. "See that switch marked 'automatic'?"

"Yes."

"Flip it."

"What?"

"I said you wouldn't like it!" Bail shouted, and yanked hard left on the steerstick to avoid fire from the pursuing ship. Ben made a quick prayer to the ghosts of his ancestors, reached up and flipped the switch.

Half the instrument panel went dead. Their flight leveled out instantly.

Bail grinned. "This is more like it. Flying by the sound of the ship, just like my daddy taught me!"

He brought them straight and true between two very large asteroids, timing it so that the pirates' fire struck the rock and not their tail. Bail turned slightly. "What were you saying about pirates, Ben?"

"It's a Nauru ship with the badge blacked out, which is a traditional sign of piracy. One who flies without the protection of a House."

"Nauru." Bail bit his lip. "Their ships are like paper. If you hit them in the sweet spot, they explode. Why are they attacking *me*?"

Ben watched them through the periscope, looking at their tactics and apparent weaponry. "Perhaps they think you won't return fire."

"Forget that. Just let me turn around..."

Ben turned to face Bail. "Bail, I cannot allow you to return fire."

"What?" Bail's shoulders jerked but he didn't take his eyes off the screen.

Ben slid his chair back beside Bail. "Jedi are required to live peacefully whenever possible, and when you carry me, this is a Jedi ship!"

"That's poodoo! I saw a Jedi blow up a ship once!"

"Doubtless that Jedi had no other choice! But we have a choice."

Bail spit the seed on the floor and leaned over the controls. "Lord and Lady and little hairy boys," he growled. "Fine. Hold on."

Ben concentrated on the web of Force that comprised inertia and mass, and thus was not caught off-guard when Bail abruptly fired the reverse thrusters and brought them to a halt beside an asteroid. Bail grunted slightly. "Was that you? That was soft. Normally we almost break a rib doing that."

"Yes, that was me." Ben looked at D'if. D'if thrashed his tail--not entirely happy to be restrained, but not hurt, either.

"We're in the sensor shadow. *They're* on automatic, so they'll get confused by all the iron and it'll take them a minute to figure out where we are." Bail carefully let go of the steerstick and rubbed the reddened palms of his hands. "So what's your big plan?"

Ben rubbed his chin. "Do you have magnetic boots?"

"'Course."

"All right. Wearing the magnetic boots, I can cling to the hull and thereby establish a line-of-sight with the Nauru ship. That will allow me to use the Force to separate the engines from their couplings."

"The sweet spot," Bail said, nodding. "But Ben. I ain't got an atmosphere suit."

"I wouldn't be able to use it anyway. I need a clear path between my hands and my eyes and the ship for this to work; that's why I cannot do it from inside the ship. I'd tear it apart." His powers were sadly limited in that manner. His master said that it was due to a failure of will, but Ben had never been able to overcome it.

"I'm sure you've noticed there isn't any air out there?" Bail raised his eyebrows.

"Well, yes."

"This isn't some kind of suicide thing? Because I can outrun 'em instead, if you really don't want to shoot them." Concern radiated off him, coupled with confusion.

Ben recalled the chase after his master's killers. He had clung to the hull of the murderers' ship without the benefit of magnetic boots until Bail--*his* Bail--had plucked him off. This small hardship didn't even come close. "I am entirely capable of protecting myself from the effects of space for short periods of time."

"If you say so." Bail shrugged and turned back to his instruments. "Tell me what you want to do."

Ben checked the periscope. "They're in front of us. They've doubled back."

"Here, take an earpiece and tell me what you want from inside the airlock," Bail said, handing him the tiny communicator and pulling the boots from a locker near his feet. Ben took both and headed back to the airlock, patting D'if on the head as he passed.

"I'll need you to fly steady, else the boots will come unstuck," Ben said as he fastened them up. "You'll have to come out of the asteroid belt."

"They'll shoot us down. I think I can get you a clear shot from inside; will that do?" Bail replied, his voice small inside the electronics.

"Yes. I'm depressurizing now; give me forty seconds." Ben touched the controls that shunted the air back into the ship from the airlock. The depressurization pulled at his flesh, but his will was stronger; the Force fed his cells and fought the lack of air. Another Jedi, only slightly stronger than he, had lived in a vacuum for fully an hour before rescue reached him.

Ben opened the hatch and stepped into space.

The cold was a dangerous welcome. It made him feel quite at home, but he had to steel himself against it, else it would kill him as surely as the vacuum would. The cold was more seductive. He missed Dvorak terribly. The hull thrummed beneath his feet as Bail moved the ship into position. He could see what Bail was doing: allowing him to sight the pirate ship between two large asteroids without moving their own ship from the cover of the field. Ben stepped into the fifth position of battle, that of the fishing bird over its prey, and called the aggressive Force to him.

The protective Force held oxygen within his cells and bound him to the ship; the aggressive Force poured from his hands like a river burst from its dam. Pebbles disintegrated as it coursed toward its target, guided by Ben's will. Ben's will wrapped it around the couplings of the engines and destroyed them, sending the engines spiraling off into space and leaving the pirate helpless and still.

"Ben! That was great! Get back inside right now!" Bail's voice was even smaller outside the ship. Ben turned and smiled at the great grey bulk of G'nash G'nir as the aggressive Force rebounded upon him and dissipated into the stones of the field. It brought with it the emotions of the pirate crew--distress, anger, but not the panic of air loss or fire. A tidy job, then, and one he could leave stand.

Ben stepped back inside, closed the hatch and opened the air vents. He collapsed against the wall, taking a deep breath of sweet air.

The door opened and Bail bounced through with an enormous grin and D'if at his heels. "You! You were great!"

D'if licked Ben's face, tasting the dust of space. Ben smiled.

"Whoosh, bang! And they just *melted.* Flying through the asteroid field with a Jedi on the hull--who would have thought that would be a good move?" Bail laughed and gave Ben his hand, pulling him to his feet. "You're not so bad, Jedi."

He darted in and kissed both Ben's cheeks, and then kissed his lips. Quickly, softly, with a lingering taste of spicy seed.

Bail stepped back before Ben could respond--and tripped over D'if, landing on his rump in the middle of the airlock. "D'if! Warn a guy."

D'if licked his ear. Bail didn't complain this time, just pulled a face and stood up. "Gotta contact the harbor, have them send someone out," he said. "Wels won't be happy."

Ben nodded and Bail headed back out to the cockpit.

He darted his tongue out to taste the spice on his lips. Of course--Bail was from Alderaan, and they did things differently there. D'if flickered his tongue in response and Ben just smiled.

"If you would deign to play fetch with me, I did bring your ball," he said.

D'if yelped and bounced in response.

the end.


End file.
